U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,681 discloses a child resistant closure including outer and inner nested closure members, each having a base wall on a peripheral skirt with sets of lugs on the inner surface of the outer closure member and on the outer surface of the inner closure member which are adapted to be engaged when the members are moved axially toward one another. The inner surface of the base wall of the outer closure member is formed with a plurality of integral spring fingers yieldingly urging the outer closure member away from the inner closure member. The outer surface of the base wall of the inner closure member is provided with a plurality of ramps and adjacent recesses. Each ramp includes a ramp surface extending axially outwardly from the outer surface of the base wall of the inner closure and has an abutment surface extending axially inwardly below the outer surface of the inner closure and is adapted to be engaged by the ends of the spring fingers. Each recess associated with an adjacent ramp includes an inclined surface extending axially inwardly from the outer surface of the inner closure member to the abutting surface of the ramp to form the recess. The ramps and recesses are constructed and arranged such that when the closure is rotated to apply the closure, the spring fingers engage the abutting surface and engage the recesses to orient the outer closure member and inner closure member such that the lugs on the outer closure member are aligned with the lugs on the inner closure member to prevent inadvertent engagement of the lugs by any top load. When the outer closure member is rotated relative to the inner closure member without bringing the lugs thereof into engagement, the spring fingers slip over the ramps and the recesses allowing the outer closure member to rotate with respect to the inner closure member. When the outer closure member is rotated relative to the inner closure member and moved axially relative to the inner closure member, the lugs are brought into engagement so that the closure can be removed from the container. Child-resistant closures of this type have been marketed for many years by applicants' assignee under the trademark CLIC-LOC. A general object of the present disclosure is to provide improvements in child-resistant closures of this type, and to provide shells for such improved closures and packages that include such improved closures.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A child-resistant closure in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes an inner shell having an inner base wall with an inner skirt, external lugs on the inner base wall, at least one internal thread segment on the inner skirt, at least one ramp extending axially along an external surface of the inner skirt and radially outwardly from the inner skirt, and a detent on an outer periphery of the inner skirt extending axially along the inner skirt and radially outwardly from the inner skirt adjacent to the ramp and spaced from the ramp in a countercounterclockwise direction around the inner skirt. The closure also includes an outer shell having an outer base wall with an outer skirt surrounding the inner skirt of the inner shell, internal lugs on the outer base wall, and at least one flexible resilient spring finger extending radially inwardly at a counterclockwise angle from an inner periphery of the outer skirt. The spring finger engages the ramp from a clockwise direction to thread the inner shell onto a container neck finish, and the internal lugs overly the external lugs when the spring finger is resiliently removably captured between the ramp and the detent such that the lugs are positioned to support the outer shell on the inner shell.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an inner shell for a child-resistant closure that includes an inner base wall, an inner skirt extending in an axial direction from the inner base wall, and a plurality of axial driven lugs extending externally from the inner base wall in an axial direction opposite of the inner skirt. The inner shell also includes a plurality of radial driven lugs extending in a radially outward direction from the inner skirt and extending axially along the inner skirt, a plurality of radial abutments extending in a radially outward direction from the inner skirt and extending axially along the inner skirt adjacent to and spaced apart from the plurality of radial driven lugs in a counterclockwise direction around the inner skirt, and a plurality of pockets disposed between the radial driven lugs and the radial abutments.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an outer shell for a child-resistant closure that includes an outer base wall, an outer skirt extending in an axial direction from the outer base wall, a plurality of axial driving lugs extending internally from the outer base wall in an axial direction the same as the outer skirt, and a plurality of radial driving lugs extending in a radially inward direction from the outer skirt.
In accordance with additional aspects of the disclosure, there are provided a closure including the inner and outer shells recited above, and a package including the above recited closures.